The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-11-24
YHE FLOP o. THR NEWs.

Under the above heading the Repub-
lean of this morning has the following
brilliant effusion:
The Emporla News came out last
evening in favor of the re-establish-
ment of saloons. This. however, is
not II matter of any great surprise.
The News has long been soft ON pro-
hibition, and such denouement
might have been expected any time
these two years past. In taking this
course the News is no doubt aware
that its position is directly opposed to
the policy of the Republican party il.
this State. Prohibition is as thorough
ly Il principle of Kansas Republicanism
as is any other feature of Republican
policy. But neither from this stand
point is the position of the News to be
wondered at. 1t has, of late, also been
soft on Republicanism. Had
1t not given fair SUPPORT
the recent elections, we would take its
present break to mean that it was
about to throw itself bodily into the
arms OF Democracy. Open saloons
and high license is the rankest of Dem
ocratic doctrine, and no straight Re
publican journal in Kansas advocates
them.
What our evening contemporary
hopes to gain by thus espousing the
wrong side of settled issue, we can
not conceive. Prohibition, as a ques-
tion of State policy, is permanently
settled. No amount of kicking on the
part of indictments can overthrow it.
The Democratic press has experiment.
ed along that line till it has become
weary, and well-nigh abandoned the
job.
The people of this city
are not SO dissatisfied with
the workings of the Murray
law as the News imagines. The law,
perhaps, is not perfect, but it is vastly
open-saloon law that was ever devised.
a little local disturbance on account of
the issuing of druggists permits is not
going to sour temperance people upon
prohibition. That is where the News
makes its mistake. Great reforms
do not go Observation-Disclosures has
come to stay.
We cannot see how our article of yes
terday can be so misconstrued as to
make us favor saloons in any shape. 1t
is only that feature of the Murray law
which virtually opens up the trade of
saloons, without its adequate remuner-
alton, that we said had many oppo-
ueulS III our must.
The very first sentence in the Repub-
lican criticism is as far from the truth
rs it would be to make the same asser-
tion of the $50 ladies who signed the
recent protest against the druggists.
THE News took simply the same
grounds as they virtually did, iRasmuch
us they entered a protest against only a
portion of those who applied for per-
mits, thus by silence giving assent to
the others to sell. The only difference
between the positions taken by THE
NEWS and the protesters, was that the
latter favored discrimination and mo-
nopolizing the liquor trade, while we
were in favor of no favors being shown,
and treating all alike, until some such
cause as the law prescribed was
brought against them.
The assertion that THE NEWS is
soft" on prohibition and also on re-
publicanism is on a par with the Re-
publican's endeavors to prove that
Grants defeat in New York was
republican victory.
In one case, just us in the other,
this paper has endeavored to give its
readers the news just as it is gathered,
whether as received by wire through
the medium of the Associate Press, or
from the lips Of our own citizens in